Artist	Song
Plasticland	Mink Dress
"	Color Appreciation
"	Pop! Op Drops
"	Euphoric Trapdoor Shoes
"	Rattail Comb
"	Alexander
"	No Shine For Shoes
"	Gloria Night
"	Non-Stop Kitchen
"	A Grassland of Reeds and Things
"	Gloria Night (Reprise)
"	Wonder Wonderful Wonderland
"	Go A Go-Go Time
"	We Can't
"	Reserving the Right to Change My Mind
"	Don't Antagonize Me
"	Craved Blue Memorandum
"	High School Nurse
"	Radiant Fuzzbox Wig
"	Probing
"	Let's Play Pollyanna
"	Cookies With The Vaudeville Glaze
"	The Lady Is No Lady
"	Some Ghost Ship Lollipop
"	Headlice Rags and Arrogance
"	The Mushroom Hill

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The Psychedelic Psavant Pseries, V4: Radiant Fuzzbox Wigout!
"It is without dispute that Plasticland was the 1980s' finest pop psych band, and one could argue for their position as the best pop psych outfit of all time." -Timothy Gassen, Knights of Fuzz
Age and experience vs. youthful exuberance and naivete.
For the primary driving forces of Plasticland-John Frankovic and Glenn Rehse, having been around for the first onslaught of psychedelia, these two had the advantage of actual experience of the music they preferred to make unlike the majority of their peers working the same vein in the '80s.
Plasticland, whose name derives from "a modernized version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland"2, began in 1980 from their predecessor bands: Willie the Conqueror, (progressive rock), and Arousing Polaris, (krautrock).
Releasing a series of 45s beginning with 1980's "Mink Dress" (b/w "Office Skills"), which overtly recalls Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" in its subject matter, the band "were not out revive the Creation; we were out to write songs as good as those of the bands we'd fallen in love with..."2
After releasing the Pop! Op Drops ep in 1982 the band were signed to the Lolita label from France and produced their first full-length LP-Color Appreciation,in 1984. (The same LP was released in the US-on new label, Enigma, and the UK-on Bam Caruso, as Plasticland, in 1984 and 1985, respectively.)
For their next release, Wonder Wonderful Wonderland, Enigma insisted the band work with Dream Syndicate guitarist Paul Cutler as producer. Called both "upbeat and lusher"2 as well as "guitar dominated"1, the band was less than happy with the results.
1987 saw the band release what is, through the luxury of hindsight, their last cohesive studio LP-Salon. A mutating blend of psychedelic grooves and Motown soul revealing their Midwestern roots,of which Rehse said:"..rhythm and blues and soul music had a hell of a lot to do with our attitude and life."2 Enigma dropped the band when the label's demand they tour "at least one hundred fifty nights a year"2 was met with disagreement from the band.
The band basically dissolved, though it wouldn't be the end.
Approached by German label, Repulsion Records, the band began work on Dapper Snappings. produced in start-and-fits as repulsion tried to scrape up the funds necessary to complete the project, the LP comes off as a disjointed, though still vital, effort. (And full of brilliant singles, imho. ) By the time it was released in 1994 the band had split up again.
Finally, in 1995, Mink dress and Other Cats was released, containing some of the early and unreleased rare tracks. The release failed to produce anything resembling renewed interest in the band and certainly didn't generate enough momentum for reformation. Glenn Rehse has released under the name the Fabulon Tripometer (big wink and a nod to Curtis Burns!) and John Frankovic has just released a new disc as of this writing. In closing I leave you with this quote from Jim DeRogatis, writing in his book Kaleidoscope Eyes, as he discussed the era:
"But the hotbed of the revival were inarguably New York and Los Angeles. In retrospect, fashion was indeed the prime concern on the East Coast, and only a handful of albums are worth seeking out (Lysergic Emanations by the Fuzztones, Outta the Nest by the Vipers, and Dorothy's dream by the Mod Fun.) This is a short list compared to the efforts by the L.A. bands, or the entire discography of Milwaukee's remarkable Plasticland.(-emphasis added.)"
Put on your Radiant Fuzzbox Wig and give me another Cookie with the Vaudeville Glaze!
1 - Timothy Gassen, Knights of Fuzz
2 - Jim DeRogatis, Kaleidoscope Eyes

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